The invention relates to a therapy appliance, in particular for an individualized nasal longtime inhalation therapy with a ventilation tube to an inlet side of which an aerosol generator is connected, which aerosol generator is connected with a medicament container.
The prevalence of chronic pulmonary diseases such as bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) in the adult population in Germany is estimated to be 10 to 15%. Globally, these diseases are the fourth most common cause of death. For the next decades a further increase of these chronic pulmonary diseases is to be expected. According to the WHO, by the year 2020 COPD will advance to rank third among the most common causes of death.
Inhalation therapy plays a central role in many patients with cystic fibrosis, bronchial asthma and COPD. Inhalational administration of steroids, anti-cholinergics and β-symphathomimetics allows reducing side effects compared to oral administration and achieving better therapy success.
Many patients perform one or multiple inhalations daily, which however due to incorrect application have no or only a diminished effect. At the same time, sometimes multiple doses are inhaled, which often results in overdosing and can lead to a higher mortality, particularly in patients with existing cardiovascular conditions.
DE 10 2008 050 218 describes a system and a method for administering inhalable substances into a lung, in particular into an animal lung, which is connected to a respirator. During the development phase of a new active substance, the active substance is normally only available in small amounts, thus making efficient application during the testing phase particularly important. This system is thus used as testing system and testing method during the development phase of new active substances.
An apparatus and a method for optimizing a dose deposition in inhalational medicament application is described in EP 2 085 105. The apparatus first determines the individual breathing volume of a patient in order to optimize the intended deposition of the medicament dose in a predetermined region of the lung. For this, the medicament-particle-concentration in a medicament-aerosol-amount is adjusted to the determined breathing volume and inhaled via a mouthpiece. A detection device signals the reaching of the breathing volume of the medicament-aerosol-amount required for deposition of the intended medicament dose in the predetermined region of the lung with one breath.
In COPD, pathophysiological inflammatory changes of the small airways lead to their obstruction. As a result, the desired therapeutic effect can only be achieved to a limited degree with conventional medicinal inhalation methods. Problematic in the previous therapy of the disease is that the obstruction prevents conventional medicaments (betamimetics, steroids) from reaching the peripheral airways. Further, symptoms occur more frequently at night (Hypoventilation, chrono-biological rhythm).
Patients may more readily comply with and accept the aerosol therapy if the time of the therapy could be shifted from an active process during the day to a passive process during the night.